Join me on my whole food plant based eating adventure
Author: DIANA ZATT
Hi everyone! It's no secret. I'm pretty addicted to eating clean and leading a healthy lifestyle. I am a registered nurse and chronic condition educator (diabetes, heart failure, hypertension, obesity & COPD). Nothing excites me more, personally and professionally, then helping others take control of their health. It really is a passion of mine. That's why I created this blog! When I am not in the kitchen creating healthy eats or digging through scientific literature, I enjoy hiking, biking, gardening and spending time with hubby Dennis. Oh and I am a mother to a loud mouthed parrot named Pickles, a 20 year old black cat named Charlie and about 50,000 honey bees.
There’s a lot of literature supporting the benefits of eating a serving (1/2 cup) of berries a day. While all berries are award winning little powerhouses of nutrients, there is one berry that wins the blue ribbon – BLUEBERRIES. Blueberries are the richest in antioxidants which protects our cells from damage and helps keep us looking young and healthy. Eating plain blueberries is one of my favorite snacks but for something a little different frozen yogurt covered blueberries takes things to a whole new dimension!
Ingredients:
1 pint fresh blueberries
8 oz. container plain fat free yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
Directions:
Mix yogurt and honey together
Line a shallow container with parchment paper
Using a toothpick, dip blueberries in the mixture then place on the parchment paper in a single layer
Freeze until solid (minimum 1- 2 hours. Pop the berries off the parchment paper and place in a covered freezer safe container. Enjoy immediately or store until ready to snack on.
Dipping the blueberries in the honey-yogurt mixtureAssembled on a parchment paper lined container. Overlapping the berries will create little clusters.This is the first time I am using my honey harvested in early October. Honey, technically, is not considered a whole food nor is it considered vegan. It is predominantly sugar – although not an added sugar. For this reason I seldom use it, and when I do, it is in small quantities. The only approved whole food sweeteners are date sugar, date syrup or molasses. What a delicious little snack and super easy to make!
Celery, along with onions and peppers, is often referred to as the holy trinity of vegetables. These vegetables often take on a supporting role in enhancing the flavor and texture of dishes but seldom take on the leading role. The distinct flavor of celery – slightly sweet, savory and aromatic – is not only the star performer in this soup but wins an academy award hands down!
Celery is comprised of fibrous ribs and darker green outer leaves. The ribs are readily incorporated in culinary dishes, but sadly, the leaves are often discarded. From a nutritional standpoint, it is the soft delicate leaves – not the ribs – that are packed with nutrition. From a culinary standpoint, it is the leaves – not the ribs – that are packed with an intense punchy flavor. To enhance not only the nutrition and flavor of this soup I use both ribs and leaves.
Is it a stalk or rib of celery? According to the USDA, a stalk means the whole bunch of celery, whereas a single piece is called a rib. One stalk of celery usually contains around 7-9 ribs.
If you see celery hearts in the grocery store it means the inner ribs from the stalk. These are lighter in color and more tender.
The darker the color of celery ribs the stronger the flavor and the higher nutritional content.
Celery is related to fennel, parsley and carrots.
The health benefits of celery, once considered hokey pokey folk medicine, has been scientifically proven. Celery contains coumarin which has calcium antagonistic properties. Coumarin prevents calcium from depositing on the walls of the coronary arteries disrupting blood supply . Celery contains a phytochemical called phthalide which relaxes the tissues of artery walls increasing blood flow and decreasing blood pressure. Celery also has a diuretic effect so it can help to remove excess water from the body. Lastly, with only 10 calories per rib celery is an excellent low-calorie food to snack on.
Ingredients:
7 ribs of celery (including leaves) chopped
1 onion chopped
4-5 cloves garlic minced
1 medium potato cubed
4 cups vegetable broth (no or low sodium)
1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 bay leaves
Celery, onion, garlic, potato, vegetable broth, almond milk, thyme, black pepper, bay leaves
Directions:
Sauté the celery and onions in 1/4 cup water until translucent (about 5 minutes)
Add the garlic and stir for 1-2 minutes until fragrant
Add the vegetable broth, potatoes, thyme, black pepper and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and gently simmer until the potatoes are tender (about 15 minutes).
Sir in the almond milk and simmer for another 5 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves then blend well using an immersion or high speed blender.
Serve piping hot and garnish with homemade Ezekiel bread croutons, sautéed onions, celery leaves or hemp seeds.
If you would like a more vibrant green soup you can add 4- 5 baby spinach leaves. I did not do this with this batch of soup.With the pretty green color it could be served as a festive holiday soup and how special it would look in red Fiesta-ware bowls! The dinnerware in this picture belonged to my grandmother and dates back to the early 1900’s.
There’s nothing better then warming up a cool late October day with a healthy home baked creation. This is the season for all things pumpkin and when I woke up this morning wanted the sweet smell of pumpkin and spices permeating throughout the house. Immediately I thought of pumpkin bread and I just so happened to have the most amazing plant based recipe. So at 10 o’clock in the morning I swung into pumpkin spice bread mode and before you know it that little loaf was in the oven baking.
That’s about when hubby came in the kitchen and told me to get dressed we’re going on an autumn hike. Well – so much for the smell of pumpkin and spices permeating throughout the house. In the 50 minutes that it took to bake my bread I managed to take a shower, get dressed, throw a little make-up on and by the time I laced up my hiking boots my little loaf of pumpkin spice bread was ready to come out of the oven.
It’s peak fall foliage season here in NE Ohio so the hike at Chapin Forest was like one out of a story book. The brilliant crimsons, yellow ochres and sienna oranges were somewhat of a visual overload. It was quite windy so the entire area was snowing “leaves.” We stopped at a viewpoint which overlooked a valley draped in the most magnificent colors and ominous Lake Erie in the background. Absolutely drop dead gorgeous!
The drive back home through scenic country roads was equally spectacular. I love the look of modest little country homes decorated with pumpkins, scarecrows and little homemade ghosts swaying from trees. I started thinking of toasty fireplaces, hot apple cider and then just as we pulled up in the driveway I started thinking about my freshly made pumpkin spice bread. As we opened the door it was just as I imagined in the morning – the sweet smell of pumpkin and spices permeating throughout the house. The bread was still warm and how delicious it tasted after our robust autumn hike!
Chapin Forest at one of the best scenic overlooks, quarry pond ledges, from which Cleveland and Lake Erie are visible on a clear day.
Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinammon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 15 oz. can of pure pumpkin
1/2 cup date syrup
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
Sift together the first seven ingredients in a large bowl
In another bowl stir together the pumpkin, date syrup and vanilla
Add the flour mixture and stir until all ingredients are mixed. The batter will be firm. Fold in the raisins and walnuts.
Pour the batter into an 8 x 4 parchment lined or silicone loaf pan
Bake 50-60 minutes (or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean) in a preheated 350 degree oven.
Slices so nicely and super moist. Everything about this bread is healthy (no refined sugar, butter or oil) but it tastes sinfully delicious – like cake!
Potato chips are best known for two things – salt and fat. It is these two things that make them so satisfying and ridiculously addictive. Lay’s nailed it when they said “no one can eat just one.” That’s the reason why Frito – Lay sells more than 372 million bags of chips each year. But as delicious as these crunchy little snacks can be there are “side effects” to eating them – at least on any kind of a regular basis. These side effects include weight gain which then increases the odds of developing heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
I don’t care how tasty potato chips are they are not worth it to your health. Next time you are grocery shopping completely bypass the snack aisle and go straight to the produce section and buy one thing – a bag of potatoes. That is the only ingredient you will need (other then the seasoning of your choice) when making these healthy little potato chip snacks.
The first time I made these I conducted a sneaky little test on my husband. He poured some of his 40% less fat kettle chips in a bowl. Unbeknownst to him, I removed some of his chips and replaced them with my Heathy Potato Chips. He chomped away happily on his bowl of chips without saying a doggone word. Now obviously if doing a conscientious side by side comparison, the chips will taste differently due to not being salted and saturated with oil. But when mixed in the bunch they are apparently delicious enough to not notice a difference.
Directions:
Slice an unpeeled Russet potato using a mandoline slicer on the thinnest setting. The slices should be approximately 1/8 of an inch.
Soak the potato slices in a bowl of warm water for 30 minutes to draw the starch out of the potatoes. The potato slices will become very stiff. If the starch is not leached out it will block the evaporation of water from the slices and the chips will be soggy instead of crisp.
Place the potato slices on a parchment paper lined microwaveable plate.
Sprinkle the spice of your choice over the slices. I like a little bit of black pepper but garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika or cayenne sound good too.
Microwave for 5 minutes. Turn the slices over and microwave for another 4 minutes or until the slices begin to curl and turn a golden brown.
My little mandoline slicer was $13.00 at Target. Please always use the safety guard with the hand held models. I found out the hard way the first time I used mine and sliced some of my thumb off. The blade is VERY sharp!Soaking for 30 minutes is a critical step. Soaking washes away the starch from the cut surfaces of the cells you damaged when slicing the potato. The water becomes cloudy and you can see the released starch settle at the bottom of the soaking container. There is nothing not to love about these potato chips.
I have been experimenting with bean burgers for several years now but with great frustration. While I was able to eat everything I came up with the majority of my concoctions were just not “blog worthy.” Coming up with an excellent recipe without using oil and salt was quite a challenge. My burgers either fell apart, were mushy, too dry, lacked taste or a combination of these. Finally, I stumbled across the right mix of ingredients and came up with a really tasty black bean burger!
Spread the black beans on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake in a 325 degree oven for 15 minutes to slightly dry out.
Sauté the peppers, onions and garlic in a pan using a little water. Gently blot with paper towel to remove excess juice and water.
Place oatmeal in a high speed blender or food processor and blend until a fine powder is formed.
Place pepper, onions, garlic, oat flour, sweet potato, cumin, chili powder, paprika, black pepper, date syrup and hot sauce in a bowl and thoroughly mix.
Add the black beans, smash them slightly with a masher then sir them into the mixture.
Form into patties with your hand or a burger press. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Well the blueberry muffins from my last post were a real hit over here but this time I thought that I would experiment with bananas. I used the same recipe https://greenlighteating.com/super-moist-vegan-blueberry-muffins/ but with a few tweaks. I ran out of millet so I only used rolled oats, omitted the lemon zest and cardamom and added more dates.
When I was a child my mother would buy the most sinfully delicious date-nut cake at Baker’s Bakery in Parma, Ohio. Let me tell you that cake was to die for and my request every single year for my birthday. It is hard to believe but these muffins taste SO MUCH like that date-nut cake but without the eggs, sugar and butter. They taste like they should be a guilty pleasure but they’re not. As with all plant based, no sugar, oil or salt recipes the more you eat the healthier you are. I hope you try this recipe. As always, I love comments!
Line muffin tin with 12 non-stick parchment cupcake liners or use a silicone muffin pan
Cut the dates up roughly and add to the plant based milk and set aside (so the dates soften).
Grind the oats in a high speed blender and place in mixing bowl. Add the baking powder and baking soda and stir with a fork.
Add the date and milk mixture, applesauce, bananas and chopped walnuts to the bowl of dry ingredients. Mix gently to combine the ingredients. Do not overmix.
Spoon the batter into cupcake liners or silicone muffin pan filling each 3/4 full.
Bake for 20 minutes or until tops are golden brown and inserted toothpick comes out clean.
The overripe bananas and dates make these muffins super sweet yet low on the glycemic index scale. Low glycemic foods do not have a dramatic effect on blood sugar levels. Enjoy these muffins for breakfast or as a snack with a nice glass of cold plant based milk!
Getting an invite to Cheryl and Ulle’s farm to pick blueberries is something I look forward to every year. I mean no where else could you pick blueberries among a friendly herd of Sheltie pups, a family of happy quacking ducks, honking geese and clucking chickens in the setting of a gorgeous farm on a hot summer evening. Cheryl and Ulle’s blueberries aren’t just any blueberries. These are the sweetest, juiciest and most flavorful blueberries EVER!! Every year I come home with a big huge bag of berries and dream of all the ways I am going to eat them.
Well today I started thinking about blueberry muffins. A few years back I made a batch of vegan muffins but wasn’t happy with the way they turned out. Yesterday I tried a new recipe in Fork Over Knives and all I can say is OMG!
These muffins are INSANELY DELICIOUS.
The recipe made 12 muffins. Today there are only 5 left. The good news is they are extremely healthy so, in the words of Dr. Michael Greger, “the more you eat the healthier you are!”
It is recommended that we get one daily serving of berries and three servings of other fruit a day. Berries are singled out for their potent anticancer properties. Berries are second only to herbs and spices as the most antioxidant packed food. Among all the berries, blueberries are the star performer.
Blueberry harvest 2023Picked right off Cheryl and Ulle’s blueberry trees!
Ingredients:
12 dates pitted
1 cup unflavored, unsweetened plant based milk
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cups millet
2 tsps. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts
Dates, plant based milk, rolled oats, millet, baking powder, cardamom (as shown still in the pod but you can buy powdered in the seasoning aisle of most stores), applesauce, lemon zest, walnuts, blueberries
Directions:
In a bowl cover the dates with the plant based milk and set aside (so the dates soften).
Grind the oats and millet in a high speed blender and place into mixing bowl. Add the baking powder and cardamom and stir with a fork.
Place the dates and plant based milk in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the date mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients along with the applesauce and lemon zest. Mix with a spoon until all the ingredients have been disappeared.
Fold in the blueberries and chopped walnuts. Spoon the batter into a silicone muffin pan or parchment muffin papers filling each cup 3/4 full. Since the batter does not contain oil the muffins may stick to regular cupcake papers.
Note: The use of cardimom and lemon zest add a really special flavor to these muffins so neither should be omitted. Also, the dates give just the right amount of sweetness and have a low glycemic index (between 44 – 53) compared to table sugar which has a high glycemic index (100). Foods with high glycemic index raise blood sugar quickly. Foods with low glycemic index release glucose slowly and steadily.
It all started with a bumper crop of eggplant. The old me would have whipped up a batch of eggplant parmesan with all the fried breading, mozzarella cheese, saturated fat and oodles of calories . The healthy me researched whole food plant based eggplant recipes. I found several on Forks Over Knives plant based nutrition site and decided to give Ratatouille Fusilli a try. I’m glad I did. What I like best about this dish is how simple it is to put together and how flavorful it is.
Eggplant, also known as aubergines, are often considered a vegetable but is really a fruit because they grow from a flowering plant and have seeds. We typically think of eggplant as purple in color but they can also be red, green or black. Eggplants are nutrient dense and packed with vitamins, minerals and fiber but very low in calories. Eggplants are high in anthocyanins which is a pigment responsible for their vibrant color but also a very potent antioxidant. Eggplants contain solasodine rhamnosyl glycosides (SRGs) which protect against certain types of cancers. There has been research to support SRGs effectiveness against skin cancer when applied directly to the skin. With all these health benefits, I’m going to make it a yearly tradition to add eggplant to my garden!
Ingredients
1/2 cup green lentils washed and soaked
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup finely chopped leeks, both white and light green parts
3 cloves minced garlic
2 1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 unpeeled eggplant cut into 1″ pieces
2 tsp. white wine vinegar
2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh basil
green lentils, canned diced tomatoes, leek, garlic, Italian seasoning, eggplant, white wine vinegarMy eggplant! Aren’t they beautiful??!!
Directions
Place the lentils in a saucepan and fill with 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to boil then simmer until cooked, about 10 – 15 minutes. Set aside but do not drain.
Cook pasta, drain and set aside.
In a skillet over medium heat combine tomatoes with the juice, leeks, garlic and Italian seasonings and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in the eggplant and cook for 15 – 20 minutes stirring occasionally until soft.
Add the pasta, lentils with their liquid and vinegar to the skillet and stir everything together until well combined.
Cook until heated. Add 1/4 cup water if the mixture seems too dry. Adjust seasonings to taste.
As a kid I loved rhubarb – but not in pie. I would sneak a stalk (or two) when my mom wasn’t looking, cut it up in little slices and savor the crisp tart flavor. Well I bought a little rhubarb plant this spring, put it in a whiskey barrel planter near the beehive and wow did it take off! Today I harvested 3 stalks and decided to kick off the 4th of July weekend by making ice cold Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade. At 83 degrees and a relative humidity of 93% that doggone ice cold lemonade really hit the spot!
Rhubarb is a hardy perennial that produces a harvest for up to 8 years. While the stalks are edible, the leaves are poisonous due to high concentrations of oxalic acid which can lead to kidney stones and kidney failure. Wash your hands thoroughly after handling rhubarb leaves or, better yet, wear gloves.
Ingredients
3 stalks rhubarb cut in pieces
1 cup fresh very ripe strawberries stems removed and cut in half
5 cups water
Date sugar (to taste)
Lemon slices
Fresh mint leaves
Strawberries, rhubarb, lemon, mint, date syrup
Directions
Pour the water into a medium cooking pot then add the rhubarb and strawberries. Cook until the mixture starts to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes or until soft.
Pour the mixture through a strainer retaining the liquid. Using a potato masher or the back of a spoon mash the strawberries and rhubarb to get all the liquid out.
Refrigerate the liquid until cool.
When ready to serve, place the strawberry rhubarb liquid in a pitcher and add ice.
Serve with date sugar (optional for added sweetness). Garnish with a lemon slice and mint leaf.
Note: As strawberries ripen their sugar content increases from 5% in unripe fruit to 6-9% in ripe fruit. Very ripe strawberries taste much sweeter.
A perfect, refreshing and all natural summer drink.I love the pretty pink color!And don’t you think of getting rid of the pulp! Drizzling a little date syrup over the warm pulp makes a delicious little dessert.
I struggle sometimes with getting my daily serving of cruciferous in. I don’t always feel like munching on raw cabbage, kale, cauliflower, broccoli or radishes. Sure, I can cook them, but then I have to chop and let stand for 40 minutes to benefit from the anti-cancer, free radical reduction, brain protecting and vision promoting compound sulforaphane.
Well a friend of mine suggested a daily kale and lime smoothie which I tried and didn’t think was bad but I ran out of limes. Too lazy to go to the store, I had some pears on hand and thought it was worth a try. That was the start of my infatuation with kale and pear smoothies and the daily love affair continues three weeks later. Hail to kale!!!
Ingredients:
4 oz. water
1 pear cored (any type)
2 cups kale
1 cup ice cubes
Directions:
Add the ingredients in the order listed to a Vitamix or high speed blender on low for 10 seconds then high for 35 seconds until desired consistency is reached. For a “fancy drink” add a spritz of lime juice.
Ain’t she gorgeous! Not only a good looker but delicious too! Earthy and with a subtle hint of sweetness.Cheers to my new love affair!
